


hush little baby, don't say a word

by anythingbutplatonic



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: 2018, Aaron knows nursery rhymes, Family Fluff, In which a screaming Seb just won't let his daddy Robert sleep, M/M, Post-engagement fluff, Robron Week 2020, Superhero daddy Aaron to the rescue, father-son bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:26:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24165097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anythingbutplatonic/pseuds/anythingbutplatonic
Summary: Robron Week Day 3: Dads“You try having a toddler who refuses to go to bed.”Seb refuses to settle, and Robert is at his wit’s end. Aaron steps in with a trick up his sleeve to soothe his infant son.
Relationships: Aaron Dingle & Seb White, Aaron Dingle/Robert Sugden
Comments: 6
Kudos: 48





	hush little baby, don't say a word

“C’mon, Seb, please go to sleep, mate. _Please_ let daddy sleep,” Robert pleaded in a strained voice, brittle with lack of sleep and the pained sounds of Seb screaming in his ear for the last two hours. He bounced and bobbed and rocked the infant in his arms, rubbing his back and stroking his hair with gentle fingertips, but nothing worked; he continued to scream, his face crumpled in an unhappy frown as his cheeks became redder and redder and shone wet with tears.

The light from the stars and the moon and the few streetlamps nearby cast a dim glow across the kitchen, which Robert had been pacing for the last hour, hoping that the rhythm would get Seb to stop crying. But no avail. The little boy was just unhappy, and upset, and Robert couldn’t make head nor tail of why.

He turned at the sound of muffled footsteps. Aaron came padding down the stairs in his socks, an old grey jumper pulled on over his pyjamas, a sympathetic expression on his face.

“Is he still not settlin’?” he asked, joining him and letting his fingers drift across the soft downy hair on Seb’s head, the other hand coming to rest in the middle of Robert’s back. “It’s been hours. Poor thing must be beside himself.”

“I’ve tried everything,” Robert said, pressing his lips to Seb’s head as he kept on crying, murmuring the words into Seb’s hair. “He isn’t hungry, he doesn’t need changin’, he’s had plenty of stimulation all day and loads of attention. I just don’t know how to help him, Aaron, I hate seeing him like this.”

Robert’s voice cracked on the last few words; his jaw wobbled and then tightened, his lips pressing into a thin line as he shook his head back and forth, trying to hold back tears that pooled at the corners of his eyes. “I just don’t know what’s wrong.”

“Go to bed, Rob,” Aaron insisted suddenly, heart cracking slightly at how desperate and upset Robert sounded. “You’re exhausted, you need to look after yourself too, you know, or how on earth are you gonna be there for him?” 

“I can’t leave him,” Robert protested, cradling Seb closer, feeling his tears soak through the fabric of his shirt. “Not like this.”

“Robert, I’m not askin’, I’m _tellin’_ ,” Aaron pushed firmly. “Go to bed. Get some sleep. I’ll stay with him.”

“You’re sure?” Robert asked over the top of Seb’s head. 

“’Course I am” Aaron replied matter-of-factly. “He’s mine, too, y’know. My little monkey,” he quipped, giving one of Seb’s feet an affectionate tug. The little boy still wriggled and cried, though. “Hand ‘im over. And go to _bed_.”

The stern expression on Aaron’s face made Robert think it wise not to disobey; he reluctantly relinquished Seb into Aaron’s waiting arms, where he instantly scooped him close to his chest and began shushing him in husky tones, letting Seb bury his face right into the hollow of his throat. 

“Bed, Robert,” Aaron repeated, and he did so with a quick, soft kiss to Aaron’s cheek. He leaned into it, the warmth of the simple gesture flooding his body. He watched as Robert descended the stairs and went out of sight, and heard the bedroom door close with a soft _thud_ above his head.

“Now, what’s the matter little man, hmm?” Aaron murmured. “Why you drivin’ daddy mental with all this screamin’?” He adjusted Seb in his arms till he could turn his face outwards and rest his cheek against Aaron’s chest, and stroked the other one, red and sticky with tears, with a finger. The light from the kitchen window shone on his wedding - well, engagement - ring, and when Seb caught sight of the flash of silver he immediately reached out to grab at Aaron’s hand with his own.

“You like this?” Aaron mused, turning his hand this way and that so the ring glinted and glimmered, and Seb watched as tears still streamed down his face, fascinated. His screams had turned now to merely anguished cries. “Your daddy gave me this. It’s really special, ‘cause it means we love each other, yeah? And we want to be with each other forever. And you’re a part of that, yeah! You’re ours now, mine and your daddy’s, and you don’t really know what that means yet but you will.”

He turned to look out of the window, at the stars and the quiet, empty street cast in milky half-darkness. “You’ll never have the kind of life me and daddy had. You’ll never know sufferin’, or pain, or have anyone who should be lookin’ after ya hurt ya in the way your grand-” He took a deep, shaky breath, shook his head, changed his words. “The way our dads hurt us. That’ll never happen to ya as long as I live, Mr. Sebastian White.” 

Seb snuffled in his arms, rubbing his cheek against his chest. Snot dribbled from his nose and chin, but Aaron barely minded; he’d stick his top in the wash in the morning. 

“Or maybe,” Aaron said, thinking out loud now rather than talking to Seb, “you can be Sugden-Dingle-White. That’d be pretty cool, eh? Bit of a mouthful, but at least people will know what kind of kid you are, how great you are. You’d be a proper part of all of us and everyone would know you’re a kid not to be messed with.”

“Y’know, there’s a song about that, I think it’s a nursery rhyme, I remember my mum singing it to me when I was a kid, too. Maybe you’ll like it if I sang it for ya now, as long as you promise not to tell daddy Robert or I’ll never hear the end of it,” Aaron said with a laugh, just knowing what Robert might say. _Who are you and what have you done with Aaron Dingle?_

He cuddled Seb close, tucking his cheek against his own little damp one. He whimpered and whined, his mouth still turned down unhappily, but seemed less distressed now. “It’s about lookin’ after your kid no matter what, and givin’ them everythin’ they could dream of. That’s what I wanna do for you, if you’ll let me. I don’t remember all of it, but I think it goes like this...”

_Hush little baby, don't say a word,_

_Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird..._


End file.
